First Polish face transplant wins US honour
PR dla Zagranicy
Nick Hodge
16.01.2014 11:15
The first face transplant to be carried out in Poland has been declared the world's best example of reconstructive surgery of 2013 by the American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery.
Photo: Glowimages
Photo: Glowimages
The honour was decided at the annual meeting of the society, which finished in Hawaii on Tuesday.
Poland's first face transplant was carried out last May at the Centre of Oncology in Gliwice, southern Poland.
“I was very pleasantly surprised by this honour, and by the reactions to the surgery across the entire world,” commented Professor Adam Maciejewski, who led the team at Gliwice.
The surgery was carried out on a 33-year-old man who had been involved in a horrific accident at work while he was operating a machine that cuts stones.
The patient, who is known only as Grzegorz, said in June that he owes everything to the Gliwice team.
The centre performed a second successful face transplant on 4 December on a 26-year-old woman who was suffering from a rare tumour disorder.
To date, there have only about thirty face transplants have been carried out across the world. (nh)
Source: PAP